--- name: "SuperProbe" section: "1x" platform: "linux" package: "xserver-common" version: "3.3.6-11potato32" release: "Debian 2.2 (Potato)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/SuperProbe" --- # SuperProbe(1x) probe for and identify installed video hardware. ## NAME SuperProbe - probe for and identify installed video hardware. ## SYNOPSIS **SuperProbe** \[-verbose\] \[-no16\] \[-excl *list*\] \[-mask10\] \ \ \[-order *list*\] \[-noprobe *list*\] \[-bios *base*\] \ \ \[-no\_bios\] \[-no\_dac\] \[-no\_mem\] \[-info\] ## DESCRIPTION *SuperProbe* is a a program that will attempt to determine the type of video hardware installed in an EISA/ISA/VLB-bus system by checking for known registers in various combinations at various locations (MicroChannel and PCI machines may not be fully supported; many work with the use of the **-no\_bios** option). This is an error-prone process, especially on Unix (which usually has a lot more esoteric hardware installed than MS-DOS system do), so SuperProbe may likely need help from the user. *SuperProbe* runs on SVR3, SVR4, Linux, 386BSD/FreeBSD/NetBSD, Minix-386, and Mach. It should be trivial to extend it to work on any other Unix-like operating system, and even non-Unix operating systems. All of the OS dependencies are isolated to a single file for each OS. At this time, *SuperProbe* can identify MDA, Hercules, CGA, MCGA, EGA, VGA, and an entire horde of SVGA chipsets (see the *-info* option, below). It can also identify several HiColor/True-color RAMDACs in use on SVGA boards, and the amount of video memory installed (for many chipsets). It can identify 8514/A and some derivatives, but not XGA, or PGC (although the author intends to add those capabilities). Nor can it identify other esoteric video hardware (like Targa, TIGA, or Microfield boards). ## OPTIONS - **-verbose** *SuperProbe* will be verbose and provide lots of information as it does its work. - **-no16** *SuperProbe* will not attempt to use any ports that require 16-bit I/O address decoding. The original ISA bus only specified that I/O ports be decoded to 10 bits. Therefore some old cards (including many 8-bit cards) will mis-decode references to ports that use the upper 6 bits, and may get into funny states because they think that they are being addressed when they are not. It is recommended that this option be used initially if any 8-bit cards are present in the system. - **-excl** *list* *SuperProbe* will not attempt to access any I/O ports on the specified exclusion list. Some video cards use rather non-standard I/O ports that may conflict with other cards installed in your system. By specifying to *SuperProbe* a list of ports already in use, it will know that there cannot be any video cards that use those ports, and hence will not probe them (which could otherwise confuse your hardware). The exclusion list is specified as a comma-separated list of I/O ports or port ranges. A range is specified as "low-high", and is inclusive. The ports can be specified in decimal, in octal (numbers begin with '0'), or hexadecimal (numbers begin with '0x'). - **-mask10** This option is used in combination with *-excl.* It tells *SuperProbe* that when comparing an I/O port under test against the exclusion list, the port address should be masked to 10 bits. This is important with older 8-bit cards that only do 10 bit decoding, and for some cheap 16-bit cards as well. This option is simply a less-drastic form of the *-no16* option. - **-order** *list* This option specifies which chipsets *SuperProbe* should test, and in which order. The *list* parameter is a comma-separated list of chipset names. This list overrides the built-in default testing order. To find the list of acceptable names, use the *-info* option described below. Note that items displayed as "Standard video hardware" are not usable with the *-order* option. - **-noprobe** *list* This options specifies which chipsets *SuperProbe* should **not** test. The order of testing will either be the default order, or that specified with the *-order* option described above. The *list* parameter is a comma-separated list of chipset names. To find the list of acceptable names, use the *-info* option described below. Note that items displayed as "Standard video hardware" are not usable with the *-noprobe* option. - **-bios** *base* This option specifies the base address for the graphics-hardware BIOS. By default, *SuperProbe* will attempt to locate the BIOS base on its own (the normal address is 0xC0000). If it fails to correctly locate the BIOS (an error message will be printed if this occurs), the *-bios* option can be used to specify the base. - **-no\_bios** Disallow reading of the video BIOS and assume that an EGA or later (VGA, SVGA) board is present as the primary video hardware. - **-no\_dac** Skip probing for the RAMDAC type when an (S)VGA is identified. - **-no\_mem** Skip probing for the amount of installed video memory. - **-info** *SuperProbe* will print out a listing of all the video hardware that it knows how to identify. ## EXAMPLES To run *SuperProbe* in its most basic and automated form, simply enter: **SuperProbe** Note - you may want to redirect *stdout* to a file when you run *SuperProbe* (especially if your OS does not support Virtual Terminals on the console). However, if you have any 8-bit cards installed, you should initially run *SuperProbe* as: **SuperProbe -verbose -no16** (the *-verbose* option is included so you can see what *SuperProbe* is skipping). Finer granularity can be obtained with an exclusion list, for example: **SuperProbe -verbose -excl 0x200,0x220-0x230,0x250** which will not test for any device that use port 0x200, ports 0x220 through 0x230, inclusive, or port 0x250. If you have any 8-bit cards installed, you should add *-mask10* to the list of options. To restrict the search to Western Digital, Tseng, and Cirrus chipset, run *SuperProbe* as follows: **SuperProbe -order WD,Tseng,Cirrus** ## BUGS Probably a lot at this point. Please report any bugs or incorrect identifications to the author. **It is possible that SuperProbe can lock up your machine. Be sure to** **narrow the search by using the** *-no16***,** *-excl***, and** *-mask10* **options provided to keep SuperProbe from conflicting with other installed** **hardware.** ## SEE ALSO The *vgadoc3.zip* documentation package by Finn Thoegersen, available in the MS-DOS archives of many FTP repositories. *Programmer's Guide to the EGA and VGA Cards, 2nd Ed*, by Richard Ferraro. ## AUTHOR David E. Wexelblat \\ with help from David Dawes \ and the XFree86 development team.